


magic of the Phoenix Lake

by MiraclesAndObstacles



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Phoenix Lake, Strangers to Lovers, Teacher Leon, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 13:49:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13191402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraclesAndObstacles/pseuds/MiraclesAndObstacles
Summary: "I guess I'll see you, then," he says as they both exit the car and walk down to the sidewalk."I guess you will," Leon chuckles as he turns to unlock the front door of his building while the boy begins walking away. Leon's eyes widen once he remembers the whole point of their late night trip to the Lake. "Wait!" he calls out, turning around to try and find the mysterious boy, but he's nowhere in sight.Leon sighs.He still doesn't know the boy's name.OR the one where Leon's a school teacher, and he keeps getting woken up by some drunk dude on the street who really likes the Phoenix Lake





	magic of the Phoenix Lake

Leon couldn’t be any happier than he is in this moment that he can finally  _sleep_. He’s only been teaching for two years, but  _Jesus_ , this week had to have been the longest one he’s experienced so far, and he has no more energy to deal with 30 little  _brats_. 

Okay, they’re not  _all_  brats, and he loves them all, but if Brad throws  _one more_  spit wad at Jessica, Leon’s going to lose his shit. 

He takes his sweet time getting ready for bed, because he knows he’s about to get the best sleep of his life. He brushes and flosses his teeth after his leisurely shower, does a 10-minute facemask, exfoliates, moisturizes, strips down to his boxers, and climbs straight into bed under the comfiest comforter he owns.

Just as he starts to feel himself drift off-

_CRASH._

Leon jolts up and glares at the doors to his balcony. “Are you fucking kidding me,” he grumbles to himself as he listens to the sounds of obnoxious laughter coming from whoever’s making the ruckus outside on the ground below.

He begrudgingly forces himself out of bed as the laughter continues, opening the doors, and walking out onto his balcony, placing his hands on the railing and looking down at the blokes about 20 feet beneath him. 

 _Be polite. Be polite. Be pol-_  “Hey, can you blokes kindly shut the fuck up?” Leon calls out to the two guys. He’s not so much with the kindness today. 

“Hey-ey-ey!” one of the blokes with a higher voice than he expected yells excitedly up at Leon, and he can see the beer bottle and smell the weed from where he stands on his balcony. 

“I’m trying to sleep, here, can you please go bother someone else?” Leon asks, his politeness still not shining through. 

“Last time I checked, these were public streets!” a strong American accent bellows from the other bloke, and the way he’s slurring isn’t helping Leon understand what he’s saying. 

“Alright, well, you’re standing under my balcony, so could you at least go to the end of the street and yell?” Leon calls back, motioning to his left. 

“Sure thing, Daddy!” the smaller one calls, and Leon swallows at the name as the American one cackles, and he awkwardly retreats back into his apartment as they begin to walk farther down the street. 

 

~

 

It’s about a week later on a Friday when Leon hears a familiar sound outside of his bedroom.

Leon likes to think that he's a good person, so he just yells “You idiots again? Can you please respect the fact that I have to actually wake up tomorrow?”

"Tomorrow's Saturday!" the boy with the blonde fringe slurs.

"I have to go to a wedding!” Leon lies, truly just wanting his damn beauty rest.

"Alright, alright, don't get your kickers in a twist! We'll leave!"

"Thank you! Please don't come back!" Leon yells out to them. 

"See you next Friday, Curly!”

 

~

 

The next Friday, Leon's had a terrible day. His boss yelled at him because Brad’s parents complained that he was sent to detention for continuing to throw spit wads at Jessica _once again_ , after Leon had told him to stop multiple times. Just because Brad’s parents donate to the school, does  _not_  mean that he should give him special privileges. That isn’t right. 

He’s just about to get into bed, when- "Are you guys  _actually_  kidding me?" Leon yells from his balcony with only a towel around his waist and wet hair clinging to his forehead. 

"Don't be such a drag, Curly! Your towel's slipping!" the stranger laughs. He's alone this time, but still quite pissed. 

"Where's your friend?" Leon yells back as he grips onto his towel, unsure of why he cares. He doesn't care. 

"He went home! Fucking loosah," he giggles. 

Leon rolls his eyes. "You should go home too, mate. I'm tired of sleeping 'til noon and wasting my Saturdays!" he calls, aware that the way the man said "loser" gave his heart a little flutter, and usually northern accents annoy him slightly, but the drunk's voice calms but excites him at the same time if that makes any sense at all. 

"Then sleep 'til 3, and come join me!" the blonde suggests. 

The offer stuns Leon. All the man has done for the past three weeks is annoy the hell out of Leon and all Leon's done is yell at him to shut up and leave. 

"I don't even know your name!" Leon manages to reply. 

"Keeps the mystery alive, Curly!" the man laughs. "Have you ever gone to the Phoenix Lake at 3 in the morning?"

"Well, I mean," Leon admits. "No."

"Then let's go! If we leave now, we can get there by 2:30!"

Leon can't believe he's even thinking about accepting the strange man's offer. 

"How do I know you're not going to murder me?" Leon asks, only partly joking. 

"You don't!" he replies, and for some reason that answer comforts Leon slightly. "C'mon, Curly! You know you want to!" he urges. 

Leon sighs and bites his lip. Does he really want to risk going out with this bloke? He doesn't get any weird vibes from him, despite his incessant need to ruin Leon's sleep. 

"Fine!" he gives in. "Let me put on clothes, then!"

"You sure? You have a nice little body!" the man jokes, pulling a cigarette from a pack and lighting it against his lips. 

Leon just rolls his eyes and steps off of his balcony back into his bedroom. He quickly slips on some underwear along with his black skinnies with the holes where his knees are and a plain white t-shirt. He pushes his feet into his worn down brown boots before going out onto the balcony again to discreetly check to see if the man was still even waiting on him. 

He saw him leaning with his back against a street lamp while he takes another drag of his cigarette. 

Leon takes another deep breath and goes through his mind again to make sure he actually  _wants_  to go to the Phoenix Lake this late at night with a complete stranger, but he still kind of wants to, so he leaves his flat and exits the glass doors of the building. 

The obnoxious squeal of the door hinges causes the stranger to look towards Leon. Their eyes meet and Leon can see the piercing blue colour of his irises from 20 feet away. 

"I was starting to think that you were going to stand me up," the blue-eyed man jokes with a smirk. 

"You should know that if you murder me, I'm haunting you," Leon replies, ignoring his comment, and the bloke just laughs. 

"Noted."

"I'm assuming I'm driving since you've been drinking."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

Leon notices how short the stranger is compared to him. He expected him to be taller for some reason. Leon doesn't let himself think about just how attractive the bloke is up close for long. 

"C'mon," Leon rolls his eyes, motioning for the man to follow him to the flat's parking garage. 

He only slightly flinches when the shorter blonde locks their arms together and begins skipping next to Leon. The movement jerks Leon a bit, but the stranger's small enough that it's not too much that it was difficult to walk. 

"You are ridiculous," Leon laughs as he presses a button on his keys to unlock his car. 

 

///

 

"What about this one?" the stranger asks, changing the song in the middle of it playing to a slightly more upbeat one. 

"Nope," Leon says for the fourth time in a row, telling the man that he's never heard it. 

The man scoffs. “Go Let It Out by Oasis. You really should think about expanding your taste in music, you know."

"Well, then make me a mix tape," Leon jokes, knowing very well that there's a good chance that they'll never see each other again after tonight. 

"Maybe I will," he grumbles in annoyance as he continues to search through his music library on his phone. "Okay, if you don't know this one, I'll need you to drop me off on the side of the road, because I don't think I could stand to be in the same fucking car as you," the stranger says, pressing play.

The sound of an electric bass playing the same chord over and over followed by the addition of a glorious drumbeat fills the speakers of Leon's car and his lips immediately break into a grin. 

"Last night," Leon begins singing, dragging out the 'i' "She said oh, baby, I feel so down. Oh it turns me off when I feel left out so I, I turn 'round. Oh, baby, don't care no more. I know this for sure. I'm walkin' out that door," he continues with a smile, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel to the beat. 

The blue-eyed man grins over at Leon and joins him. 

"Well, I've been in town for just about fifteen minutes now," they sing together. 

The stranger bounces happily in his seat as they begin the chorus and nods his head along to the beat of the drums. 

"See, people, they don't understand. No, girlfriends, they can't understand. Your grandsons, they won't understand. On top of this, I ain't ever gonna understand!" they sing, basically screaming by the end of the chorus. 

When the song ends, the man stops his air drumming at the perfect time and looks over at Leon with a grin that creates wrinkles by his eyes, and the blue of his irises can barely be seen. 

Leon decides that he's beautiful. 

"Last Nite by The Strokes," Leon says simply, glancing over at the boy next to him. 

"So, your taste in music isn't completely terrible, then," he states, putting his songs on shuffle. 

"And you have a nice voice," Leon compliments.

"Oh," the blonde gasps slightly, turning his head towards the window. Leon can only glance over because he has to watch the road, but he swears he can see a blush on the boy's cheeks. "Thank you," he hears him mumble. He coughs, quickly composing himself. "Your voice isn't half bad either, Curly."

 

The boy next to him stays quiet after that. "There's the Phoenix Lake!" he suddenly exclaims, moving up in his seat slightly and pointing to Leon's left. 

Leon just chuckles with a shake of his head and turns into the entrance, parking in the completely empty lot. 

"2:28, just in time," the boy cheers, quickly undoing his seat belt and pushing the door of Leon's car open, and shutting it with a bit too much force. He slips his shoes off as he runs down the steps, almost tripping over himself on the way down. 

Leon had barely taking the key out of the ignition by the time the strange man was running barefoot on the sand. 

He's not quite sure what the fluttering sensation he was feeling in his chest meant, but Leon just ignores it and slips his shoes off, locking his car and walking down the same steps the boy had almost fallen over on. 

He watches the small beauty run in circles in the sand with his arms out and smiles at the sight. He'll admit it's very cute.

He doesn't even realize the boy had been getting closer to him until he feels his hand being grabbed and sees blue eyes connect with his green-brown. He feels himself being pulled and suddenly he's running barefoot towards the Phoenix Lake with a complete stranger whose name he doesn't even know, and he can't imagine anything he'd rather be doing.

 

~

 

The stranger hasn't come by in almost 3 weeks, and Leon didn't think he would be disappointed to be getting his full 8 hours of sleep at night, but he kind of misses the annoying drunk boy. 

'At least I had a good night with him,' Leon thinks, trying to remind himself that he's literally never going to see the bloke again. 

Not that he cares. Who cares? Not Leon. Nope. 

It's 11pm on a Wednesday, which means that it's Leon's self-assigned bedtime so that he's able to be rested enough in the morning to deal with 30 fifth graders. 

He strips down to his boxers and quietly fumbles his way into his bed after turning his lights out. His students were really trying his patience today, so he was out basically as soon as he shut his eyes. 

 

///

 

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Leon groans at the annoying sound that's just woken him up from a great dream that involved him, David Beckham, and chocolate strawberries. 

Tap. Tap. 

"What the fuck," Leon grumbles as he tries to squeeze his pillow around his head to drown out the incessant tapping. 

Tap. 

Leon could literally scream. 

Tap. 

He groans again and sits up in his bed with his legs facing his balcony. He's assuming there's a fucking bird or something flapping around on his balcony. 

Tap. 

Leon stands up, probably slightly more annoyed than he should be, and walks over to his balcony, quickly opening up the door only to be met with a pebble hitting his forehead. 

"Ouch," he groans, bringing his fingers to where he was assaulted. "What the fuck?"

“Hi!" he hears a familiar voice call from below, and he walks onto his balcony to see the boy from a few weeks ago standing on the ground beneath him. "Hey, Curly!" the boy greets with a wave. 

“Hi to you too. What are you doing here? What time is it?" Leon grumbles down to him, rubbing the sore spot on his forehead. 

"It's 1 in the morning. I couldn't sleep," the boy admits. "Let's go to the Phoenix Lake!"

Leon just sends him a glare. "I have work in the morning!" he calls back. 

"I'll have you back by sunrise!" the boy promises with a grin that has Leon's heart skipping a beat. 

"I teach 11 year olds! I need sleep!" he laughs. 

"Please?" the boy says with a fake pout, and Leon sighs. "I need a distraction!"

Leon ponders the offer, and he could just go to bed early tomorrow. 

"Tell me your name, and I'll go with you," Leon offers and the blonde scrunches his nose at that. 

"Where's the fun in that?" he giggles, and Leon thinks that might be the most glorious sound he's ever heard. 

"Name or no Phoenix Lake," Leon stands his ground. 

"You first," the boy says. 

Leon rolls his eyes. "My name's Leon."

"Hello, Leon," the boy says with a smile. "Come to the Phoenix Lake with me and you might get my name," he laughs. 

"That wasn't the deal!" Leon whines. 

"That's the best that I can do!"

"Fine! Let me put pants on," Leon grumbles down to him, and he just replies with a thumbs up, which Leon returns as he goes back inside. 

Leon decides that he's too tired to put jeans on, so he finds his black joggers with the white strings that he likes, a grey t-shirt, and some slip on sneakers that he almost never wears. 

He sighs and grabs his keys, not really knowing why the hell he's going to the Phoenix Lake that's half an hour away when he has work in the morning, but if it all goes to hell, he figures he can just call in sick. 

"Whatever," he mumbles to himself and he walks out of his building's main entrance. "Let's go," Leon says gruffly to the man while holding his arm out to him, and the man quickly locks their arms together again with a grin on his red lips, and Leon ignores the tingly feeling near his heart. 

 

///

 

"Okay, we've been here for half an hour. What's your name?" Leon asks, only slightly annoyed that he still doesn't know what to call the boy. Part of him thinks the mystery is kind of romantic, and the other part knows that there's no way they'll ever end up together, because this isn't a fairy tale. 

They're currently sitting at the edge of the Phoenix Lake, both of their toes dangling above the surface of the water. 

The boy smirks at his question and just puts a hand out over Leon's chest and pushes the both of them down so that they're both lying on their backs. 

"Do you see those three stars in a perfect line right over there?" the boys says, pointing his finger to the right of them both and ignoring Leon's request for the 3rd time since they've been here. 

"Yeah," Leon sighs. 

"If you look closely, you can see the four stars that connect to make a square type thing, and together it all forms a kite, kind of, and that's the big dipper," the smaller boy explains. "and then right over there is the little dipper."

"It's like me and you," Leon laughs, turning his head to look over at the boy, who he's just now realized is insanely close to himself. 

"What are you talking about?" he asks with squinted eyes. 

"I'm the big dipper, and you're the little dipper. Because you're so small," Leon says with a teasing smile. 

The boy just rolls his eyes, and Leon thinks he could easily get lost in them. "I'm not even that much smaller than you, thank you very much."

Leon shrugs. "Small enough."

The boy rolls his eyes once again, looking back up towards the sky. 

"Can I know your name now?" Leon asks for the fourth time, determined not to let the boy change the subject again. 

"Do you want to go skinny dipping?" the boy asks with a mischievous grin, sitting up. 

"What?" Leon asks, his eyes going wide as his upper body props itself up on his elbows. He's already disappointed his own determination. 

"Let's go skinny dipping. Have an  _adventure_ ," the boy repeats, his eyes full of excitement. Leon can't seem to speak any longer, his mouth just slightly ajar as his brain tries to come up with an answer. "C'mon," the boy giggles with a roll of his eyes as he grabs Leon's hand and pulls him up to his feet. 

Leon freezes even more while he watches the boy slip his white t-shirt over his head and toss it to the side. He tries to tear his eyes away when the boy undoes the button on his jeans, but he really doesn't want to. His torso had to have been painstakingly sculpted by the gods, because Leon doesn't think he's ever seen such a beautiful creature in his life. The boy's jeans are being thrown next to his shirt, and before Leon knows it, he's staring at a very naked, very beautiful stranger. The stranger takes no notice to Leon's stares (as far as Leon knows) as he runs towards the Phoenix Lake, and Leon's never seen such a nice ass on anyone. 

"C'mon, Curly! The water feels great!" the boy calls out to him when he gets to about waist deep. 

Leon comes out of his trance quickly and decides to make the most out of whatever the hell is happening right now, so his shirt comes off. Then his joggers. And then his boxers. Soon, he's running into the Phoenix Lake as the boy watches on, admiring Leon's figure as well, not that Leon notices his stares. 

Leon runs right up to where the beautiful boy is floating and dunks him under without a second thought. 

He cackles as the boy comes up, sputtering and looking at Leon with eyes of betrayal. 

"Alright, I see how it is then," the boy laughs, the blue in his eyes becoming more intense and his wet fringe sticking to his forehead. "Come 'ere!" he yells, diving after Leon, causing a shrill shriek to rise from his throat as he tries to swim away to no avail, because the boy clings onto his shoulders and forces the taller boy beneath the surface of the water. He comes up a few seconds later with a look of determination in his eyes, and he can tell that the boy can see it, because he turns and begins trying to run away in the water as Leon swims after him. It's only about 10 seconds of annoyingly loud laughter from the two of them when Leon finally catches up to the boy, grabbing him by the waist from behind and picking him up, spinning him around and dropping him back into the water as he kicks his feet. 

They both laugh as the boy grabs on to Leon's forearms and helps himself to stand, Leon gripping the boy's forearms as well. 

Their laughter begins to subside slowly when they both realize how close they are to each other in that moment. If either of them moved forwards an inch, their entire bodies could be touching. If Leon tilted his head down an inch and the other boy tilted his up an inch, their noses would be touching, and Leon wouldn't mind either of those things. 

Apparently neither would the other boy, because before Leon can even process what's happening, the boy's lips are on his. Leon really should have seen this coming, but he didn't because he's clueless. 

Leon closes his eyes and slowly starts to move his lips against the shorter boy's, and the boy takes that as an invitation to deepen the kiss as he swipes his tongue across Leon's bottom lip. Leon immediately obliges, and their tongues begin to dance together. 

The boy's hands move from Leon's arms to Leon's neck and pull him closer to himself. Leon grips the boy's hips, and he can't help but moan into the boy's mouth as he feels their mutually stiff cocks rub against each other. 

Leon feels the boy's hand slowly sliding down Leon's torso as their kiss becomes more heated. His dainty fingers brush over Leon's nipples and dance their way over the moth on his stomach and trail their way down to his belly button and slink down his treasure trail until they wrap themselves around his cock and begin to move up and down his shaft. 

"Jesus," Leon groans in pleasure, pulling his lips away from the boy's for a split second before they're connected again. 

Leon wraps his hand around the stranger's cock and begins to return the favour. He doesn't think it's possible for him to become any more turned on than he is in this moment, but that thought is proven wrong with he hears and feels the boy's whiny moans against his own lips as he strokes his shaft, increasing the speed and tightening his grip to increase the feeling he's giving the boy, because Leon honestly doesn't think he's ever seen or heard anything as beautiful as him coming undone right in front of him. 

Leon moves his lips down the boy's neck so that he can hear his moans properly, and he bites and sucks at his sweet spot until a nice red mark is visible. The volume of both of their moans increase dramatically after that, because they're both so fucking close, and Leon doesn't think he can handle much more. 

"Fuck,  _Leon_ ," the boy breathes, and the sound of his name leaving the boy's lips has Leon on a whole new level of pleasure as he climaxes into the Lake. 

The look on Leon's face when he cums seems to be all that's needed for the other boy to climax, his whole body shaking as Leon holds him close, kissing his neck and continuing to jerk him off to allow him to ride out his orgasm. 

"My knees feel weak," Leon laughs into the boy's neck as they both try to catch their breath. 

"Ditto," the boy breathes out a laugh, before squeezing Leon's ass, causing the taller boy to jump slightly. "That certainly wasn't supposed to happen," he states after a moment with a small smirk on his face. 

"I'm not complaining," Leon smiles. 

"Neither am I."

"I should get back. I need to be at work in about 4 hours," Leon says, looking down at the boy. He only nods, taking Leon's hand and leading him out of the water to where the pile of their clothes lay in the sand. They leisurely shake the grains of sand off of their clothes before they redress and walk in silence to Leon's car. 

 

///

 

The drive back was mostly silent as the two boys went over the events that just transpired in their minds, both of them trying to hide the idiotic smiles on their faces from the other. 

"We're here," Leon says softly as he pulls into his parking spot. 

"So we are," the boy smiles over at Leon. "I guess I'll see you, then," he says as they both exit the car and walk down to the sidewalk. 

"I guess you will," Leon chuckles as he turns to unlock the front door of his building while the boy begins walking away. Leon's eyes widen once he remembers the whole point of their late night trip to the Phoenix Lake. "Wait!" he calls out, turning around to try and find the mysterious boy, but he's nowhere in sight. 

Leon sighs. 

He still doesn't know the boy's name. 

 

~

 

Leon's just about to go to sleep when he hears a loud tap on his balcony window. 

His eyebrows furrow, because the last time that happened, he ended up having probably one of the most exhilarating nights of his life. 

That was almost 2 months ago, now. He hasn't seen the boy since. 

He walks out onto the balcony in only his joggers and bunny slippers. A fresh blanket of snow covers the sidewalk, but there's no one on the street below him.

Leon sighs and decides he's just imagining things, and he really should just go to sleep. It's winter holiday now, so Leon doesn't have much to do tomorrow, but if imaginary sounds are making themselves seem real, sleep is the best option. 

He closes the door to his balcony and begins to crawl into his bed. 

Tap. 

Leon's head shoots over to his balcony again in confusion. He shakes his head and gets under his covers. 

Tap. Tap. 

"Okay, that has to be real," Leon mumbles to himself, getting out of bed once more and steps out onto his balcony once more. 

He looks over the edge and sees the familiar blue-eyed boy about to toss another pebble towards his window. 

"Curly!" the boy exclaims in excitement, dropping the rest of the pebbles in his hand. "I heard you open the door before, but I was gathering more pebbles, so I missed you," he laughs. 

"What have you been doing for the past two months?" Leon calls down to the boy with a yawn. 

"I made you a mix tape!" the boy smiles widely up at him, ignoring his question. 

"A mix tape?" Leon repeats, remembering their first real conversation in Leon's car. 

"Yeah! We can have a listen on the way to the Phoenix Lake!" 

"The Phoenix Lake? There's literally snow on the ground!" 

"We don't have to get in the water this time!" he offers. Leon feels a blush form on his cheeks from the mention of their time in the water together. "Leon, up for it?" the boy laughs. 

Leon sighs. "Yeah, I'm up for it!"

"Great! Now go put a coat on, you're absolutely mad for being out here shirtless!" the boy giggles. "Not that I mind all that much, just don't want you to catch a cold!" he adds 

"I'll be right down!" Leon rolls his eyes. 

He's down about 10 minutes later wearing his black skinnies with his black Calvin Klein t-shirt and his favourite tan, slightly furry winter coat with his brown boots. 

"You clean up nicely," the boy smiles, brushing his fringe to the side. 

Leon scrunches his eyebrows, as he looks the boy up and down. "Is that my jacket?" he asks, motioning to the light wash jean jacket with a white fur lining. 

"This old thing?" the boy jokes with a shrug. "Yes, yes it is. Stole it from your car last time I was in it."

"How did I not notice-"

"You were too entranced with me to notice," he interrupts Leon with a laugh. "Anyways, we should get a move on if we're going to catch the sunrise."

"Sunrise?" Leon asks as the boy hooks their arms together and begins leading them to Leon's car. "It's only midnight."

"Is it? Well, then I guess we'll just need to keep each other company until the sun comes up then," the boy smiles, keeping his gaze in front of the two as they walk. "Unless of course you have to work in the morning," he adds on, the smile only dropping slightly. 

Leon shakes his head. "No, it's winter holiday this week and next."

"Perfect," the boy replies, grinning as Leon unlocks his car. 

 

///

 

"I can't believe your car has a cassette player in the radio," the boy laughs as his slips the mix tape he created in. He almost forgot to play is for Leon, and Leon almost forgot to ask. They got way too lost in conversation, talking about literally nothing, but the words were slipping off their tongues so easily. 

"I can't believe you actually made me a mix tape," Leon says back. "And on a cassette, no less. I was just joking, y'know."

The boy just shrugs. "You need better music, I'm just doing you a favour."

"I like my music," Leon grumbles. 

"It's complete shit," the boy laughs. 

"What the hell is this?" Leon asks as he hears someone start to rap through his car speakers. 

"DNA by Kendrick Lamar," the boy says as if Leon was supposed to know that. 

"Who?" Leon asks and the boy gives Leon a look like he's just slapped him across the face. 

"Please tell me you're joking," is all the boy replies. 

Leon just shrugs and keeps his eyes on the road. 

"I have a feeling I'm going to need to make you more than one mix tape," he mumbles, skipping to the next song. 

"Okay, this one sounds more like something I would listen to," Leon says as the drumbeat mixes with the bass. 

"Do You Know Me? by VANT," the boy says before beginning to sing along to the lyrics. "I think you'll like this one too," he says, switching the song. 

"Do you ever listen to a song all the way through?" Leon laughs, glancing over at the boy to see him shrug. 

"Sometimes," he says quietly. "Beach (I Wanna Make You Mine) by Will Joseph Cook."

 

_I can't do it without cracking_

_If these locks allow_

_This is what I'm dreaming 'bout_

_It's a long shot, but I'll take it_

_Long way, but I'll make it_

_But if these locks allow_

_This is what I'm dreaming 'bout_

_I said_

_Hey, I wanna make you mine_

_Hey, I wanna make you mine_

_I wanna make you mine_

_I can't seem to love another_

 

"You're right, I do like this," Leon admits softly, admiring the length of the boy's eyelashes for longer than he should have, seeing as he's driving. 

 

_I got bubbles inside my head_

_Loose tongue spitting out_

_This is what I'm dreaming 'bout_

_Am I missing or not?_

_Got my head stuck like a junkie_

_But if these locks allow_

_This is what I'm dreaming 'bout_

_I said_

_Ay! I wanna make you mine_

_Ay! I wanna make you mine_

_I wanna make you mine_

_I can't seem to love another_

 

_You and I are not so easily breaking_

_We're just living our lives_

_Keeping ourselves to_

_You and I are not so easily broken_

_We're just losing our minds_

_And breaking the silence_

 

They pull into the Phoenix Lake just as the song ends, and Leon parks in the space by the steps like usual. 

"That's my favourite one you've played me so far, I think," Leon replies, he voice soft as he turns his head to give the boy a small smile. 

The boy returns the smile, but quickly changes the subject. "The sand is waiting for us." He quickly removes his seat belt and opens his door to exit the vehicle, waiting for Leon to get out this time before he goes down. He grabs Leon's hand as soon as he's locked his car and drags him down the steps, both of them removing their shoes on the way down. 

 

///

 

"I've missed this the past two months," the boy's says with closed eyes as he breathes in the fresh air that the Lake is passing over to him. 

"You mean you don't have any other blokes that you force to drive you down here in the middle of the night?" Leon jokes with a chuckle, not realizing the double meaning behind the boy's statement. 

The boy shakes his head and sits down in the sand with his arms hugging his knees as he watches the Lake move in and out. "You're the only one that will drive me here," he chuckles. 

Leon responds by sitting down next to him and mimicking the way the boy sits. 

"How long until the sun rises?" Leon asks, and he sees the boy's surprised face at the question. 

"Quite a while. I didn't think you'd actually want to stay 'til then," he admits sheepishly. 

"Yeah, why not?" Leon shrugs. "Unless you don't want to."

"No," the boy answers quickly. "I'd love to sit with you for a few hours," he smiles. 

Leon returns the smile and only a few minutes pass before Leon can feel the boy shivering next to him. 

"Are you cold?" Leon asks, looking over and seeing that the tip of the boy's nose has turned slightly red. 

"A bit," he admits. 

"Here," Leon says, beginning to remove his coat. 

"No, then you'll freeze," the boy stops him, placing a hand on one of Leon's. 

"We'll share it and cuddle up to each other, then," Leon declares, and the boy wasn't going to say no to that offer. 

He just nods and scoots closer to Leon as he opens his coat and wraps it around the smaller boy, both of his arms making their way around him as well. The boy leans his head onto Leon's shoulder, and Leon's really glad the boy and his friend decided to get drunk outside of Leon's flat. 

 

///

 

Leon feels himself being shaken, and he doesn't realize he had fallen asleep until he opens his eyes to reveal the most beautiful sight he's ever woken up to. The boy was leaning over his face with a huge grin that reached his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes that could challenge the colour of the Phoenix Lake and win. 

"What's happening?" Leon asks, his voice coming out quite croaky. 

"The sunrise is starting," the boy says excitedly from above him. 

Leon smiles at the boy's excitement and sits up so the boy can cuddle up to him again for warmth. They wrap their arms around each other and Leon has to stop himself from kissing the top of the shorter boy's head, because he doesn't know if their time in the Phoenix Lake was a one-off or not. 

"That's absolutely beautiful," he hears the boy mumble as he stares at the hues of pink and orange slowly change before his eyes. 

Leon can't help but stare down at the boy and admire him instead. "Yeah, it is."

The sun's halfway in the sky when the boy speaks again. 

"Max," he says simply without taking his gaze away from the multitude of colours in front of him. 

"What?" Leon asks with furrowed eyebrows. 

"My name," he replies, tearing his eyes from the sunrise and moving them to Leon's. "It's Max."

"Max," Leon repeats, a grin forming on his face. "Beautiful name for a beautiful person."

Max blushes at the comment and looks away, but Leon doesn't mind, because he finally knows the blue-eyed beauty's name. 

 _Max_. 

 

~

 

It's a month later when Leon finally hears the tap he's been waiting for forever. 

A smile breaks out onto his face, and of course, he's not wearing a shirt again and it's freezing outside, but he just grins and bears it, walking out onto the balcony. 

He looks over and sees Max on the street below, so he waves. "Max!" he says excitedly. "Are we going somewhere?"

"Leon," Max replies, and Leon's heart drops when he hears his voice crack. 

The majority of Max's face is being hidden by his baseball cap, but now that Leon's heard the sadness in his voice, he recognizes that Max's usual smile is replaced with a frown. 

"Are you crying?" Leon asks with all the care in the world. 

"Leon, I can't-I need-please-" Max replies, and Leon can hear the sobs wracking through Max's body. 

"I'm coming down to get you!" Leon calls down to him. "Just stay right there!" he says, and he sees the smaller boy nod. 

Leon quickly grabs his keys and rushes down the stairs to the bottom floor, not bothering to wait for the elevator. When Leon comes out onto the street, still shirtless and freezing, he sees a bag near Max's feet that he didn't notice before. 

His eyes land on Max, and he quickly jogs over to the boy, both of them taking the other into their arms. Leon's left arm wraps around Max's waist while his right hand finds its way to the back of his neck and strokes the section of his hair that isn't being covered by the hat. Leon can feel tears running down his chest as Max sobs in his arms. 

"I'm so sorry, I feel so stupid," Max says shakily between breaths. 

"You're not stupid, Max. What's going on? What-" Leon starts, his breath catching when he pulls back from Max and sees his face that was hidden by the hat moments before. "Max, your eye," Leon says with wide eyes and a worried stare. He slips the hat off of Max's head to reveal his dishevelled hair, and Max doesn't try to stop him, instead just beginning to shed more tears. 

Leon study's Max's eye with his hands placed gently under his chin so that he can get a good look at it. There's a small purple bruise at the pointy end of his eyebrow and a slight purple tint on the lid of his eye. Under his eye is the worst part, though. A puffy, deep purple half-moon that starts at the inner corner of his eye makes its way down to Max's cheekbone. There's a yellow tint surrounding the purple that makes its way to the bridge of Max's nose, and Leon wants to throw up. 

Who in his or her right mind would hit someone as beautiful, inside and out, as Max?

"Max," Leon says softly as another tear rolls down Max's cheek. "Here, come inside, love," he says, slinging Max's bag over his shoulder and wrapping his other arm around Max's waist to lead him up to his flat. 

The bruise looks way worse in artificial lighting, and Leon feels like crying. 

"Max, what happened?" Leon asks, sitting Max down on one of the barstools in his kitchen. He quickly goes to his fridge and puts a few ice cubes in a plastic bag and wraps a paper towel around it. 

"It's my fault," Max sobs, wrapping his arms around himself and rocking back and forth without making eye contact with Leon.

"How is this your fault?" Leon says, grimacing when he notices another bruise near Max's mouth, pressing the DIY cold compress to the bruise near his eyebrow. 

"I pissed him off, I shouldn't have pissed him off, I shouldn't have done that," Max says quickly, between sobs. 

"Pissed whom off? Done what?" Leon just wants to understand what the hell happened to the boy in front of him that he cares about probably a bit too much. 

"I had to leave him though, Leon, you have to understand, I had to," he says frantically, finally looking into Leon's eyes. "I had to," he whispers. 

It's then that Leon begins to understand what happened. Max has a boyfriend. Or at least, he had a boyfriend. One that had some anger issues, it seems. 

"Are you talking about your boyfriend, Max? Did your boyfriend hit you?" Leon asks softly, pressing the ice to his eye. 

Max just nods and breaks into a fit of sobs once again. 

Leon feels a rush of anger soar through his body, but he knows he needs to be calm for Max's sake, so he keeps his voice soft. 

"Let's get your coat off, Max," Leon says, unzipping the jacket and slowly pushing it off of his arms, laying it on the counter when it's off. It's then he notices a lighter cluster of bruises that he can only recognize to be shaped like a hand. He gasps at the sight, and his eyes flicked from Max's eyes to his arm. "Did he do this too?"

Max nods through his tears. "That was a couple of weeks ago, though. It's almost gone now."

"Oh, Max," Leon says sadly, gently wiping away the tears from both of Max's eyes, apologizing when Max flinches. 

"I'm sorry," Max apologizes. "I don't usually come see you when I have bruises," he says, and Leon's heart breaks. "I didn't have anywhere to go."

"I'm glad you came here," Leon says honestly. "Shouldn't we report him to the police?" Leon asks, and Max's eyes widen. 

"No, please don't, please d-don't do that, please, Leon, I'm begging, don't call the police," Max rambles, and Leon quickly places his hands on both of Max's arms and rubs up and down to soothe him. 

"Shh, Max, it's okay," Leon says softly. "I won't call without your permission, alright?" If Leon's honest, he totally would call without Max's permission, but he doesn't know the assholes name or where he lives, so he literally can't. "Just don't go back there, alright? Just stay with me for now."

"I'm not going back," Max assures Leon. "I left him, I can't go back. I don't want to."

Leon nods. "Keep this on your eye, it'll help the swelling," Leon says, handing the ice pack to Max. Max does as Leon says. 

"How long has he been doing this?" Leon asks, hoping he doesn't cause Max to go into another fit of tears. 

"We got engaged about 6 months ago, and ever since then, he's been a completely different person," Max mumbles, avoiding eye contact with Leon. 

Leon's heart hurts quite a lot, knowing that Max was engaged the entire time they've known each other, including when they were intimate at the Phoenix Lake, but he knows that's not the most important thing right now. 

Apparently, Max knows exactly what Leon was thinking though, because he sighs and leans towards him to peck him on the cheek. 

Leon's cheeks flush, and he just looks away. 

"When we were in the water, I felt more for you than I did for him," Max says quietly, removing the ice from his eye to give it a break. The statement doesn't comfort Leon, so he just shrugs. "I still do," Max whispers. Leon meets Max's eyes and gives him a small smile. "Can I take a shower?" Max asks weakly after a moment of silence. 

"Course," Leon immediately nods and takes Max's hand, leading him to his bathroom and making sure that the water's warm enough. "Is that good?" Leon says, motioning for Max to feel the water. 

He puts his hand under the stream of water and nods. "Perfect."

Leon just smiles at him and starts to walk away, but he feels his hand being tugged back. 

"Leon?" Max asks with sad eyes. 

"Yeah, Max?" he replies, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of Max's hand in his. 

"Thank you," he states. "For everything." 

"You really don't have to thank me, Max. If anything I should be thanking you," he says honestly and Max just tilts his head in confusion. 

"For what? Ruining your sleep and wasting your petrol?" he laughs. 

"You gave me something to look forward to," Leon says, leaving the bathroom before Max could reply. 

 

///

 

"You can sleep in my bed, and I'll just take the couch for now, alright?" Leon asks, putting an extra pillow on his bed for Max. 

"Wait, but," Max starts with furrowed eyebrows. 

"Yeah?" Leon asks. 

"I don't like sleeping alone," Max mumbles, looking anywhere but at Leon. 

"You want me to sleep with you?" Leon smirks. 

"Don't give me that look, Curly," Max glares. "Just get in the bed, and stop being a twat."

"Fair enough," Leon chuckles with a shrug of his shoulders. He goes into his bathroom and quickly brushes his teeth. When he goes back into his bedroom, he sees Max standing shirtless with his back towards him, and Leon can't help but bite his lip as he stares. Max's bare back gives Leon flashbacks of their time in the water, and Leon's dick twitches in his pants. Another purple mark on Max's left lower back shakes the thoughts away quickly though, and Leon's once again reminded that Max literally just got out of an abusive relationship like 3 hours ago. 

Of course, Max then turns around, and Leon has to bite down on his bottom lip to keep himself from letting a moan slip out at the sight of Max's godlike curves. 

"Whatcha staring at, Curly?" Max smirks and Leon immediately shoots his eyes up to meet Max's blue. 

"Nothing," he mumbles, raising his arms to grip the back of his shirt and slipping the fabric off of his torso, throwing it into his laundry hamper. 

It was apparently Max's turn to stare, because Leon feels eyes burning into him as he picks a few of his things off of his floor as part of his nightly routine and puts them where they belong. 

"Whatcha staring at, Max?" Leon says, mimicking the boy and loving the way his name slips off his tongue. 

"Shut it," Max mumbles and quickly climbs into the bed, facing away from Leon. 

Leon just rolls his eyes fondly and slips into bed next to the beautiful boy. 

"Goodnight, Max," Leon says and Max hums in reply. 

They both lie there in silence for about 20 minutes, and Leon can feel himself close to sleep until he hears Max's soft voice. 

"I met Jack a week after graduating," he says softly. 

Leon frowns and moves closer to Max, resting a hand on his waist. "Is he the one who-" Max's nodding cuts him off, and he just sighs. 

Max wipes the tear that falls down his face and scoffs at himself. "I'm sorry," he mumbles. "I don't know why I keep crying over that idiot," he sniffles. 

"None of what he did is your fault, Lou," Leon says, thinking about what he kept saying when Leon first sat him down. 

Max groans. "But maybe I shouldn't have-"

"Max," Leon interrupts sternly. "None of it."

"But-"

"No."

"Okay," Max sighs. 

"C'mere," Leon says, holding out his arms. Max immediately obliges and moves himself closer, humming contently when Leon's arms are wrapped tightly around him. 

 

~ 

 

"I'm sorry, Curly, I swear I'll move out as soon as possible," Max sighs sheepishly. "I'm just having a hard time finding a place."

It's been almost a month since Max showed up at Leon's flat with bruises and tears. Leon's found that he actually quite likes having the smaller boy around, even though he has extra dishes to do. It's nice not being lonely. 

"There's no rush, Max," Leon says honestly with a smile. Part of him doesn't want Max to move out. A big part of him. 

Leon and Max still sleep in the same bed, but that's all they do. Sleep. Leon wouldn't mind doing a little bit more, but Max's just gotten out of a terrible engagement, and Leon isn't about to push him.

Max sometimes gets up in the middle of the night to sleep on Leon's couch when he feels like a burden. Leon hates that. Usually, though, he stays in bed with Leon. 

They haven't even kissed since that one time at the Phoenix Lake. Nothing. It takes all of Leon's willpower not to connect their lips any chance he gets. 

"I'll be out of your hair soon, Leon," Max smiles. 

Leon just sighs and continues to do the washing up. 

"I'll be right back," Max says a few minutes later, walking in the direction of the loo. 

Only a moment later, the doorbell rings, and Leon just rolls his eyes because Ralf is the only person who drops by his flat without a warning (especially now that Max's living with him), and he's really not in the mood for Ralf's incessant beer-hogging. 

"Coming, Ralf!" he calls as he jogs over to his front door. "Hey, man, I'm not really-Oh," Leon cuts himself off, surprised at the unfamiliar face at his door. "Can I help you?" he asks politely. 

The man in front of him is probably slightly shorter than Leon himself, but quite a bit buffer than him. He has medium light brown hair that messily flips itself over to one side and a sharp jawline. 

"Is there a Max here?" the man asks monotonously with a look of worry on his face that looks almost fake to Leon. 

Leon immediately stiffens and furrows his eyebrows, narrowing the doorway so that he's in between the side of the doorframe and the door. 

"Who are you?" Leon asks gruffly, ignoring the man's question. 

"Should I take that as a yes?" the man speaks, obviously annoyed. 

"You should take it as a tell me your name or I'm shutting the door," Leon scoffs, knowing very well that if he hears the name he thinks he'll hear, he's shutting and locking it anyways. 

"Leon, who's at the door?" Max yells from the hallways, and Leon closes his eyes momentarily in annoyance. 

"No one!" Leon yells back. "I think you should go, mate," he says quieter, beginning to shut the door. 

The man just smirks and puts his foot out, stopping the door in its tracks. "Max, c'mon, I'm taking you home!" the man yells, trying to fight the force Leon's placing on the door. 

"Jack?" Leon hears Max gasp quietly. 

"Max, go to the room," Leon says sternly, but gently. Leon doesn't look back, but hears tiny footsteps quickly retreating. 

“Mate, that’s my fiancé, not yours, so how about you open the fucking door or I’ll open it for you, and beat your fucking skull in,” Jack hisses, pushing against the door to try and open it further. 

“Oh, fuck off,” Leon rolls his eyes, shoving the door closed and locking it before Jack could turn the doorknob. 

Leon quickly gets a chair from the dining table and puts it under the doorknob to make it that much harder for Jack to open. He grabs his phone from the coffee table in his living room and quickly dials 9-9-9 before putting the phone to his ear and listening to it ring. 

“999, what’s your emergency?” the operator says from the other line. 

Leon sees Max slowly begin to walk out of the hallways and towards him, giving Leon a strange look, and looking over towards the front door to see the chair. “Leon, what are you doing?”

Leon gives Max an apologetic look before he speaks into the phone. “My name’s Leon Goretzka, and there’s a bloke at my door trying to break in, and he keeping yelling threats towards me and my roommate who he abused for 6 months,” Leon says in one breath, staring at Max the entire time and watching his beautiful face transform into one of complete and utter betrayal. Leon gives the operator Jacks full name and Leon’s address as he watches Max storm off into the other room. 

Once Leon’s able to hang up, he continues to try and ignore the banging coming from his front door, following Max down the hall into their bedroom. “Max,” Leon says, walking in to find the boy throwing his stuff in his duffel bag. “Max, what are you doing?” 

“Don’t fucking worry about it, you absolute  _dick_ ,” Max growls without making eye contact with the taller boy. 

“Max, I had to call the police,” Leon reasons, beginning to pull all of the clothes out that Max’s shoving in his bag. 

“Fucking  _stop_  that,” Max shouts, shoving the clothes back in as Leon takes them out. 

“He somehow fucking tracked you down to my flat, tried to force his way in here, and then threatened to bash my fucking skull in, Max, what else was I  _supposed_  to fucking do?” Leon exclaims, continuing to unpack Max’s bag. Max stays silent, and the banging stops a few seconds later. 

“See, Leon? He fucking  _stopped!”_  Max motions to the door. 

“He heard the fucking police sirens, Max!” Leon shouts back. 

Max just rolls his eyes and tries again to put the same fucking shirt in his bag, which Leon promptly removes once again. “Holy shit,  _fuck_  the bag!” Max yells, grabbing his coat from the chair in the corner of the room and shoving his arms through it. 

“Max, where are you going?” Leon calls, following after him as he heads towards the front door. 

“None of your fucking business,” Max grumbles, moving the chair and opening the door. 

“Stop! Max,  _don’t!_  You don’t know where he is! He’s looking for you, stop!” Leon says, running to the door and calling after Max. He begins to try and run after him but a police officer stops him. 

“Mr. Goretzka? I need to ask you a few questions,” the officer says. 

“Yeah, I know I called you, but my boyfriend-I mean, not my boyfriend, my-my roommate or whatever, the guy I called you about is looking for him, and he’s trying to leave, so I need to go get him, and-“ Leon rambles frantically. 

“Johnson, follow the boy and don’t let him see you,” the officer in front of Leon says, and his partner nods, walking in the direction of Max. 

“Thank you,” Leon breathes. 

“Now I need to ask you a few questions.”

 

///

 

Max doesn’t know where he’s walking, but he just really needs to not be with Leon right now. He had absolutely no right to call the police. He fucking told Max he wouldn’t call without his permission, and he did it anyways. 

Jack doesn’t deserve to go to jail. Max provoked him all those times. It’s not Jack’s fault, it’s Max’s. 

Max came home with a fucking hickey on his neck after that night with Leon, what else was Jack supposed to do? Of course he hit Max that day. He probably could have refrained from kicking Max in the torso so hard that he had to drive himself to the hospital with 3 cracked ribs, but Max deserved that. And then he kept seeing Leon even though he knew it upset Jack. Of course he hit him. 

Yes, Max left the bloke, but he still loves him. They were together for 7 years for god’s sake. It’s not like he never cared about him. It just got too overwhelming. 

It’s really fucking cold right now. Like way the fuck below freezing cold. And Max feels like he’s being watched, but there’s literally no one around right now, so he might be going insane. 

Max’s not even completely sure how long he’s been walking, but it’s probably been hours by now. 

He suddenly hears footsteps sink into the snow behind him, and he quickly turns around to find no one there. Okay, he’s actually going insane. He needs to stop being so fucking paranoid. 

He hears the sound of a car nearing him, so he turns around and sees that it’s a taxi, quickly flagging him down and telling the Phoenix Lake to take him to the only place he feels truly okay. 

 

///

 

It was an incredibly expensive cab ride, but the scenery in front of him made it completely worth it. 

The sun’s going down now so the light of both the deepness of the moon and the vibrancy of the sun is reflecting on the water as the waves run along the sand. 

Max’s been sitting here for literally hours now, his knees against his chest and his arms around his calves while he thinks about what the fuck he should do about whatever happened today. Jack doesn’t deserve to go to jail, Max thinks, but Max deserves to be hit sometimes, he knows that much. He’s kind of a little shit, if he’s honest. 

The sun’s more than half way below the Lake when Max decides he should probably find some sort of cheap hotel for the night, because he doesn’t feel like making the trip back to Gelsenkirchen alone. He also doesn’t particularly want to see Leon, so he’ll just stay here tonight and maybe try to figure his life out. 

Max scrolls through Google and stumbles upon a cheap hotel that’s only a 15 minute walk away, so he stands up, taking one last look at the beautiful Phoenix Lake in front of him before he begins to head in the direction that the map on his phone is telling him to go. 

A grey kitten passes in front of him, and he mentally ‘aw’s as the little baby saunters into some random alleyway and disappears into the night. 

Before Max even has time to take his attention away from the cat, he hears a sound next to him and sees a figure moving rapidly closer in his peripheral vision. He tries to scream, but before he can, a hand forcefully covers his mouth, and suddenly he’s being dragged into the same alley that the kitten had previously gone into, and Max has no fucking idea what to do.

It’s dark in the alley, and the person holding him from behind isn’t talking, but rather breathing heavily against the back of his neck as tears begin rolling down Max’s cheeks. 

The person finally takes a deeper breath than he already has after Max’s tried to struggle for what feels like forever. “Obviously I didn’t teach you a good enough lesson the last time you tried to leave me,” the voice breathes into Max’s ear, and Max’s breath catches in his throat, Jack’s hand still covering his mouth. 

Max tries to bite Jack’s finger, but is immediately met with a sharp pop on his lip, causing the familiar taste of blood to meet his tongue again, before Jack brings his hand back over Max’s mouth. Max gasps at the sudden pain, but doesn’t try to bite again, because he just doesn’t want to be hurt anymore. 

“Don’t be a fucking idiot,” Jack hisses, flipping Max around to face him and violently shoving his back against the brick wall behind them. Max winces in pain, knowing for a fact that another bruise is going to form on his back over the next couple of days. 

Jack’s hand that isn’t covering Max’s mouth comes up to push against Max’s chest and hold him in place while he speaks. “You know, Max, I really should have fucking killed you the last time you pulled this shit.”

Max’s body shakes with sobs at this thought as he begins to shake his head. 

“Stop fucking moving,” Jack growls, and Max automatically freezes, squeezing his eyes shut as tightly as he can to pray to every deity that he can just wish himself out of this situation. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

This makes Max open his eyes and stare Jack straight in the face. In his angry, homicidal face. 

“That fucking piece of shit you ran to when you tried to leave me, the one you’ve been fucking behind my back for who knows how long, you know him? Yeah, he doesn’t fucking love you, you fucking idiot. No one fucking loves you. I’m the only one who could ever feel that way about you, because you’re a fucking cunt who doesn’t understand what he does and doesn’t deserve. No one could ever love you like I do. You’re mine, and only mine,” Jack growls, his face so close to Max’s that their noses are touching. 

Max cries at his words and hopes that he’ll just fucking let him go. But no. 

“Do you have anything to fucking say?” Jack says angrily, releasing his grip on Max’s mouth. Max let’s out a long breath between sobs after Jack lets him breathe completely. “Fucking say something!”

“Me and him never had sex,” Max sobs, trying to calm Jack down. 

“Don’t fucking lie to me, you piece of fucking garbage.” Jack’s voice becomes angrier as he says this, his elbow beginning to push harder against Max’s lungs. 

“I swear! We didn’t have sex!” Max cries out truthfully as more tears drown his cheeks. 

“I’ll make sure you never fucking lie to me again,” Jack grumbles, moving the hand that originally covered Max’s mouth to Max’s throat, his fingers gripping tightly around the width of his dainty neck and pulling upwards slightly, Max’s feet now dangling beneath him as he tries with all of his might to breathe or to fight back or something, but no matter how hard Max hits his fists against Jack’s chest, and no matter how hard he pushes against Jack’s arm, he can’t get him to so much as even budge. 

Max wants to cry and scream and anything, but he can’t fucking breathe, and he doesn’t know what the fuck to do, so he tries to kick Jack, but that just makes his grip on Max’s neck tighten as he grunts in anger and Max feels the tears free falling as he struggles. 

Max’s almost given up hope as his vision begins to become blurry and his head becomes light when he hears a gasp and suddenly a figure that Max can’t quite make out is tackling Jack and suddenly Max’s on the ground, coughing and wheezing and  _breathing_  again. He can feel the scratches on his back bleeding because of the brick and he can feel the outline of a forming bruise in the shape of a hand on his neck. 

When Max looks up, there’s another man pulling the figure off of Jack and that’s when Max realizes that the figure is Leon. 

Headlights flash from a passing car, allowing Max to see the sheer anger on Leon’s face and in his body language and in his roaring voice as the police officer restrains him from Jack. Leon’s knuckles on his right hand are cut up and bloody, and Max leans against the brick wall because this is all too much for him right now. 

 

///

 

“How did you find me?” Max asks hoarsely from the familiar location of the passenger’s seat of Leon’s car. He had woken up in the hospital after passing out at the sight of Leon screaming and hollering at Max’s ex-fiancé. 

“Max, the doctor said not to talk for awhile,” Leon says calmly (a drastic difference from Max’s last memory of him). Turns out almost being choked to death is super terrible for your throat. Who knew? He answers the question regardless. “I had been searching for you since you left, basically. Then, the officer that was following you lost you, but I figured if you were going to go anywhere, it would be the Phoenix Lake. So I made him take me there.”

Max just nods, not knowing what to say, and not really wanting to talk, because it hurt his throat a lot to talk. 

 

~

 

“Max, I’m home!” Leon yells as he closes his front door, trudging over to put his bag down on the couch as he ponders what a little asshole Franklin was during class today. 

What kind of 11 year old tells their teacher to “fuck off” when offered a lolly? That doesn’t even make sense. 

“Max?” Leon calls out again, hoping that maybe he’ll receive a reply today. He walks towards his bedroom, and when he opens the door, he finds a dishevelled Max in the exact spot he left him in 8 hours ago. In bed, surrounded and swallowed by the most cloud-like comforter Leon owns. 

Leon stares at Max’s (beautiful) face with pursed lips for slightly too long before he kicks off his shoes by the dresser and walks over to the side of the bed, crouching down so that he’s eye level with the bed-ridden boy. “You alright?” Leon asks, genuinely wanting to know if Max’s okay, because he knows he’s not. Leon wishes for a verbal reply, but all he receives is a shrug of Max’s shoulders and a blank stare. 

Leon can tell from the red blotches and the puffing of his eyes that Max’s cried recently, and he hates that he doesn’t know what to do for him. 

It’s been about a week and a half since the incident with Jack, but it’s been about 2 1/2 days since Leon’s even so much as  _heard_  Max’s voice. Max’s lip and the scratches on his back are almost healed, and his bruises are close to gone, but Leon’s never seen a person seem so depressed. 

He reaches his hand up to brush Max’s fringe out of his eyes, and he’s met with a flinch from the smaller boy while he squeezes his eyes shut, as if he’s preparing himself for something awful. 

Leon’s heart breaks at Max’s reaction to his gesture, and he pulls his hand away. “I would never hurt you,” Leon says with every ounce of truth he has in him. “Ever.”

Max nods, but all he can think is,  _he said the same thing_. “I know,” he says instead. 

 

~

 

"C'mon," Leon says, barging into his and Max's shared room at an ungodly hour on a wretched weekday and tearing the comforter off of the sleeping boy. 

It’s been almost a month of an incredibly depressed Max, and Leon doesn’t think his heart can take watching him be sad anymore. 

"What the fuck, Leon? I'm trying to sleep," Max groans, covering his eyes with his arms to cancel out the light that Leon's flicked on and turning over onto his stomach to bury his face in a pillow. 

Leon can't help but admire Max's glorious backside. He shirtless with only boxers covering his bottom half, and all Leon wants to do is bite his arse cheek, because  _god_  it's tempting him. 

"We're going to the Phoenix Lake," Leon states firmly, throwing a hoodie and a pair of jeans at the boy's back, as much as it pains him to tell him to put more clothes on instead of taking them off. 

"What?" Max grumbles, turning his head slightly to stare at Leon with tired, squinted eyes. "What's the bloody time?"

"Phoenix Lake time! Let's go, chop chop," Leon says with a snap of his fingers. 

"It's 2:17 in the morning, and you want to go to the fucking Phoenix Lake?" Max says sourly after glancing over at the clock on Leon's wall. 

"You don't?" is all Leon replies. 

Max's silent for a moment before he sighs and rolls his eyes, pushing himself up to sit upright and pulling the clothes on that Leon had provided. 

 

///

 

"Why do you like the Phoenix Lake so much?" Leon asks as they lay cuddling in the sand under the stars. 

Max is tucked gently under Leon's arm with his head on his chest and hand on his stomach, Leon's hand reaching behind Max and to the side of his waist. 

 

"My dad used to bring me out here all the time. He would always talk about how much he loved it out here at night, but he would never take us after dark. It makes me feel closer to him in a way," Max spills, his voice becoming softer with every other word. 

"He sounds like she was a lovely person, from what you've told me," Leon says truthfully. 

"He was the best,” he smiles.

Leon nods and lets the silence take over for a while, before he speaks again. "Hey, Max?"

Max hums in reply. 

"I think I might be in love with you," Leon speaks softer than usual, keeping his eyes on the night sky above them. 

Max immediately looks up at him and props himself up on his elbow. Leon can tell he's at a loss for words by the way his mouth continuously opens and closes itself. 

"You don't have to say it back," Leon says, staring into Max's eyes. "I just thought you should know."

Max looks at Leon with confused eyes before he slowly nods and lies back down on Leon's chest. "Alright," he mumbles. 

 

///

 

"Max," Leon repeats for probably the 7th time since they left the Phoenix Lake. They've just gotten back to Leon's flat, and Max hasn't said a word since Leon said you-know-what. Leon said that Max didn't have to say it back, but he didn't think he would just stop talking to him. "Max," he says one more time, and Max actually stops walking away from him this time, but when he turns to face him, he continues to look everywhere except at Leon. Leon sighs and rubs his eye with his hand in defeat. "I'm sorry," he says finally. "I shouldn't have said anything. You're going through a lot right now, and me telling you that obviously didn't help anything, and I-what are you doing?" Leon cuts himself off as Max strides towards him with a purpose, crashing their lips together for the first time since the night so long ago at the Phoenix Lake. 

Leon's shocked at the action, but he quickly melts into the kiss, placing his hands on Max's cheeks and thoroughly enjoying the way Max's arms wrap themselves around his waist. 

Leon gasps when he feels himself being pushed against a wall as Max's thumbs dig into his sharp hip bones, and,  _fuck_ , this is all Leon's ever wanted. 

Max pulls his lips away from Leon's, and Leon knows for a fact that his face is completely flushed, and the way Max's looking at him isn't helping the dent in his jeans. 

"Okay," Leon breathes, not really knowing what to say, because Max still hasn't spoken a word, and he's got Leon pressed against a fucking wall. 

"Bedroom," is all Max says, and Leon finds himself nodding without missing a beat. 

"Okay," he says again, letting the younger boy lead him down the hall. 

Max shuts the door behind them with more force than was probably needed, but Leon doesn’t care, because the person he’s in literal love with is attached to his neck, and he’s finally allowed to touch him the way he’s been longing to for months now. 

Leon’s allows his hands to roam Max’s body, taking in every detail of every curve the wonderful boy in front of him. 

Max brings their lips together again as he begins to push Leon’s t-shirt up, eventually disconnecting their lips to pull it over Leon’s head and throw it onto the ground. Leon does the same to Max’s shirt, before they both begin to undo the other’s jeans and slip off their own shoes. They stumble out of their pants, Max shoving Leon onto the bed once they’re both only in their boxers. 

Max falls on top of Leon, his knees on either side of Leon’s hips as he leans over to suck a nice red mark onto the side of his neck. Leon moans at the contact, his hands gripping Max’s thighs and pulling him closer to himself.

 

 

~

 

The first thing Leon notices when he feels himself waking up is the warmth of the sunrays coming through his window and hitting his chest. All he knows is that the second thing he wants to feel is the boy lying beside him. Or the boy he  _thought_  was lying beside him. He reaches his arm over to the other side of the bed without opening his eyes, only to be met with the soft material of his bedding. 

The confusion this brings Leon causes him to open his eyes and look to where he thought the boy who could potentially be the love of his life  _should_  be. All he sees is an empty bed next to him.

“Max?” he calls out, hoping to god that he’s watching television in his living room. He’s just about to go check, when he notices a blue sticky note on the pillow that Max always uses. 

 

_“Leon -_

_I know that I’m leaving without really saying goodbye, but I have to._

_I’m sorry._

_Max”_

Leon feels his eyes watering, and a tear falls without him noticing. He quickly grabs his phone and dials Max’s number, standing up and frantically searching around the room for any sign of Max’s things while he listens to the sound of his call being rejected.

“Max, what the fuck?” Leon cries into the speaker of the phone as he slips himself into a pair of his boxers. “Where are you? Where’s all of your stuff? Your shoes aren’t scattered across the floor, and your drawers are empty. Max, what’s going on?  _Please_  call me back. Please. Please come back.”

Leon can’t believe that he ruined this. 

Why the fuck would he go and tell Max that he’s  _in_   _love_  with him, when he’s already in such a vulnerable place?  _Idiot_. 

 

~

 

“Alright, class, it’s time for lunch,” Leon says at 12:15 on the dot. “Everyone line up in a single file line so we can all get to the cafeteria in one piece,” he reminds the 30 11-year-olds.

“Stop! Stop it!” he hears Jessica exclaim and looks over to see one of her classmates repeatedly poking her.

“Eric, we’re not having this conversation again,” Leon warns. "If I see you touching someone else without their consent, I’m sending you to the headmaster’s office.” 

“Yes, Mr. Goretzka,” Eric replies, immediately putting his hands behind his back.

“Thank you,” Leon says with a nod of his head. "Alrighty, let’s go, everyone.”

They begin to walk down the long hallway that Leon and one of the art teachers, Mr. Höwedes, have recently covered in the artwork of the students. It makes the plain white walls much more lively and exciting to look at. And the kids  _love_  seeing their work being plastered everywhere.

“Leon?” he hears, and his attention is immediately drawn to the student at the front of his line. She is arguably his favourite student out of all of the students he’s ever had. But he doesn’t tell her that. Her ego’s already big enough. 

“Emily, I’ve told you, you have to call me Mr. Goretzka. You can call me by my first name when you’re not my student anymore,” Leon chuckles, turning and leading his class down a different hallway. 

“You call me by  _my_  first name,” Emily challenges, and Leon raises his eyebrows.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ms.  _Miller_ ,” he laughs. “That better?”

She scrunches her nose before shaking her head. “No, I’ll just stick with Leon.”

“Mr. Goretzka,” Leon corrects.

“Gesundheit,” she says immediately. It really is astonishing to Leon how sassy she is already. “So, Leon, I have a question.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Leon sighs.

“Are you okay?” she asks causing Leon to furrow his eyebrows.

“What do you mean?”

“When I got to school this morning, your eyes were all red, and you’ve been quieter and more exasperated than usual for the last few weeks, so I figured something might have happened,” Emily says, and Leon frowns. He didn’t think she noticed his eyes this morning, and he was trying his best to act like he usually does even though he’s been constantly on the verge of tears.

“It’s nothing, Emily. I’m fine. But thank you for your concern,” He says, putting a fake smile on his face. “Alright, class,” he continues before she can say anything else, because it looked like she didn’t believe a word he just said. “Go eat, have fun, and I’ll call you all back in about 45 minutes,” he dismisses them into the cafeteria, thankful that he’s not on lunch duty today. 

 

~

 

“Max, can you at least just let me know that you’re alright?” Leon sniffles into the speaker of his phone, leaving Max a voicemail for the first time in about two weeks now. He hasn’t responded to any of his messages. “Please call me b-“

“Leon, what are you doing?” Ralf, Leon’s friend and also the school’s gym teacher, scolds, barging into Leon’s bedroom with folded arms. “Hang up the phone.”

“No, Ralf, I just need to know if he’s oka-“

“Leon, you’re drunk. Give me the phone,” Ralf says, snatching the phone right out of his hand and pressing the ‘end call’ button.

“That was rude,” Leon grumbles, clumsily climbing into his bed and pulling his fluffy comforter over his body.

He told himself a while ago that he just needed to let Max go, but he may or may not be slightly drunk right now, so all plans of moving on have been momentarily postponed. 

“You know, you’re really annoying when you’re drunk,” Ralf deadpans, pulling Leon’s shoes off.

“Not annoying,” Leon pouts.

Ralf rolls his eyes. “I had to pull you off some random bloke in the back of the bar tonight before you did something you might regret.”

“I could never regret a dick that big,” Leon retorts with a giggle.

“How the hell do you know how big his dick was?” Ralf asks, waving his hands in exasperation. 

“He fucked me in the bathroom after you walked away,” he says nonchalantly, letting his eyes close themselves.

“Do you even know his name?”

“Nope,” Leon smiles.

“Well, you kept calling him ‘Max,’ so maybe next time you fuck someone, ask for their name so you can scream that instead of your ex’s,” Ralf says, raising his eyebrows in annoyance. 

“Max isn’t my ex, and the bloke didn’t seem to mind when he was balls deep in my-“

“Alright, that’s enough, Leon!” Ralf puts his hands over his ears to block out the rest of Leon’s sentence. “Goodnight, I’m crashing on your couch,” he mumbles before he walks out of Leon’s bedroom.

“Goodnight, Daddy!” Leon calls out with a giggle. 

Leon’s only been laying there for a few minutes when he feels a warm tear run down his cheek. He knows that he’s really not okay. He just wants to be okay. He cries himself to sleep, just like he has almost every night since Max left a month and a half ago.

 

~

 

Leon’s on his usual early morning run when he realizes he’s somehow ended up in a part of town he’s never been to before. It’s not a “bad” part of town or anything, just very unfamiliar, which makes Leon feel slightly uneasy as he continues his jog. It’s about 10 minutes to 6, so he figures the Starbucks he sees across the street will open soon so that he can get a cup of coffee before he has to head in to work. He decides to sit on a bench across the street to catch his breath while he waits.

It’s been 3 months now since Max left Leon’s flat, and he’s made it almost 3 days without so much as thinking about it, so you could say he’s doing alright.

While Leon scrolls through Twitter and Instagram (both of which are dead, seeing as it’s 5:55 in the morning), he hears a loud cackle coming from somewhere and figures some random drunks are coming back from a night of getting completely wasted, so he just keeps his focus on continuously refreshing Twitter to see if anyone posts anything even remotely amusing. They don’t.

He hears the cackle again, but this time it’s much closer to where he is, so he figures the bloke probably lives in one of the surrounding flats. He continues to ignore the ruckus until-

“Weston, mate, what the fuck are you even laughing at? I haven’t said a word for about 5 minutes now,” a familiar voice chuckles, and Leon’s heart stops. He looks up to find the source of the voice, and his eyes almost pop out of their sockets when he sees Max holding that American bloke up.

Leon’s head starts spinning, and he literally has no idea what to do.

Should he go up to him?  _No, Max left him for a reason. Max doesn’t want to see Leon._

Should he just stay here and hope he doesn’t notice him?  _Leon’s literally in plain sight under a streetlamp with a pink jacket and white shorts on, he’s definitely noticeable._

Maybe he should just hide. _No, that’s literally pathetic._

He sees Max’s head turn in his direction, and Leon immediately shoves himself between two buildings.  _Apparently hiding ended up being the best option, after all._

Leon’s breathing is heavier and more laboured than it was during his run, and he can feel himself beginning to sweat again at the thought that Max might have just seen him.

He tries his best to control his breathing while he stands with his back against the brick wall. When he doesn’t hear anything anymore, he decides he should probably check to see if they’re gone, so he turns and slowly peeks his head around the corner, immediately catching sight of and very possibly making eye contact with the man who may very well be the love of his life as he unlocks the door to what Leon presumes is where he lives now. He quickly pushes himself back against the brick wall, squeezing his eyes shut and begging the universe that Max didn’t just see him. 

He hears a door open and shut, so he peeks his head around the corner once more to see that the American guy and Max were both gone. He breathes a sigh of relief (and a little bit of despair) before he feels his eyes start to burn as he slides himself down the wall so that his knees are pressing against his chest, his arms wrapping themselves around his calves.

Leon cries into his knees for the first time in 3 weeks.

 

~

 

“Mr. Goretzka?” Emily says, batting her eyelashes at Leon one random Tuesday. It’s lunchtime, and Tuesday is Leon’s day for lunch duty, so he’s sitting with Ralf at the ‘teacher’s table’ and talking to him about the students they share.

“You only call me that when you want something,” Leon laughs. “What is it?”

“I don’t want anything,” she shrugs, and he raises an eyebrow at her. “Really!” she urges. “I just want you to know that I truly respect you as my teacher, and I think you should remember that.”

This comment worries Leon. A lot. “Emily, are you alright?” he asks, but she just smiles at him and promptly retreats back to the table she was eating at. “Did that seem strange to you?” he asks, turning to Ralf.

Ralf shrugs, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Kids are strange.”

“I guess,” Leon mumbles. 

“So, are you finally done moping about that bloke?” Ralf asks, changing the subject.

Leon rolls his eyes. “Y’know, Ralf? I’m not really sure at this point, because I thought I was finally fine, but then I saw him last week and-“

“Whoa, wait, you saw him last week? When?” 

“I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t planned. I was out for my morning jog, and he was just getting back to his flat from who knows where. I didn’t even know where he lived until I saw him go into the building,” Leon sighs, pushing his broccoli around his plate with his fork, his appetite suddenly gone. “Anyways, I thought I was alright, but I saw him last week, and it really just ruined me again. Like, am I just supposed to live like this for the rest of my life? Literally, I saw him, and it was like he was breaking my heart all over again. My chest hasn’t stopped hurting since I saw him. Which, by the way, I think he might have seen me too, but I can’t be certain,” Leon groans, leaning back in his seat.

“The chest pain thing sounds more like a heart condition to me,” Ralf jokes. Kind of. 

“You know what I mean,” Leon says, setting his fork down on his plate.

“Yeah,” Ralf sighs. “Well, I just-“ Ralf cuts himself off, his eyebrows furrowing as he looks at something. “Hey, don’t-“ he yells, standing up from his seat, pointing to god knows what behind Leon.

Leon turns around just in time to see Emily throwing what seems to be a cupcake that lands on the shoe of one of Ms. Edwards’s students.

“Emily-“ Leon yells, standing up.

“What the fudge?” Alexander yells at her, grabbing a cupcake from his lunch box and throwing it back in Emily’s direction, only to have it hit a different girl on the back of her head.

“Alexander!” Leon yells again, before witnessing the girl Alexander threw a cupcake at throw another cupcake in the opposite direction. “Why do they all have cupcakes?” Leon frantically asks Ralf as the entire cafeteria begins to become plastered in dozens of different kinds of cupcakes.

“They probably planned this. Damn kids,” Ralf mumbles, blowing his whistle to try and get them to stop as he walks into the middle of the war, which of course only ends in him being covered in frosting and cake. 

Emily turns to face Leon and gives him a thumb up. Leon literally can’t deal with any of this right now, so he just sits back down at this point and puts his head down on the table. He freezes when he feels a cupcake smash onto the back of his neck and looks back to see Ralf staring at him.

“If you could help, that would be great right now, Goretzka,” Ralf says, obviously annoyed.

The fact that Ralf threw a cupcake at him whilst trying to cease a cupcake war seems a little obnoxious, so Leon picks the cupcake up off of the ground and throws it back at Ralf, hitting him in the middle of his back.

“Really?” Ralf says, turning around again.

“You did it to me!” Leon calls back with a slight laugh. At this point, cupcakes are flying literally everywhere, and Leon doesn’t have the energy to try and stop the fight, so instead, he kind of… well. “If you can’t beat them, join them,” Leon laughs, picking a destroyed cake off of the ground and throwing it straight into Ralf’s face.

Ralf gasps and wipes the cake off of his cheek flinging it onto the floor. An evil smirk appears on his face before he takes a mound of cake out of a student’s hand and throws it straight back at Leon.

The kids cheer at their teachers joining the food fight. Of course, the cheering doesn’t last for long, because all goes silent when the headmaster slams the cafeteria doors open. 

“Mr. Fährmann! Mr. Goretzka! What in gods name do you think you are doing?” the headmaster shrieks, her face turning beet red with fury.

“Um, we were just- um,” Leon stammers, trying to think of something. 

“I’m waiting,” she says sternly, crossing her arms and tapping her foot against the floor.

“Um-“ Leon stutters again.

“They were trying to stop the cupcake war, but I guess it’s kind of difficult to control a hundred 5th graders,” Emily speaks up, and Leon would literally adopt her if she didn’t already have a loving home.

“I see,” the headmaster says, not seeming like she truly believes Emily’s words. “Tomorrow, instead of recess, all 94 of you will be on clean-up duty,” she declares, and all of the students groan, but nod.

“Yes, Headmaster Moor,” they all say in unison.

“Good. Now go to the bathroom and clean yourselves up, you’re all a mess,” she says, walking out and mumbling to herself.

“That was incredibly close,” Ralf mumbles, wiping his forehead.

“Emily, thank you for covering for us, but why would you start the fight in the first place? You know better,” Leon asks, making sure she knows that he’s disappointed.

She grins up at him. “It’s just nice to see you smile again, Leon."

 

~

 

“Hello?” Leon grumbles into the speaker of his phone, trying his best to peel his eyes open as he checks the time on his bedside clock. 

_5:27 AM._

“Hi, Leon, I’m so sorry to call you so early in the morning,” one of his co-workers and dear friend, Anne, says frantically back to him. “It’s just there’s been an emergency with my mother this morning, and I desperately need someone to fill in for me at the pre-school today. Do you think you could do it?”

“Anne, you know I would in a heartbeat, but I have my own class to teach-“

“Yes, yes, I know, but I’ve already talked to Ms. Harris, and her entire class is out with chicken pox, so she can take care of your class for today while you watch my kids,” Anne says, and Leon can tell she’s walking quickly somewhere because of her breathing. 

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for Ms. Harris to watch your kids then?” 

Anne scoffs. “Leon, you and I both know that Ms. Harris and 2 to 5 year-olds would not mix well.”

Leon breathes out a laugh at the thought. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, then. Well, if she’s all right with it, then I am. What time do I need to be there?”

“Parents usually start to show up at around 7, so 6:30 is a safe bet,” she replies. “Again, I’m so sorry about the short notice, I just don’t trust anyone else with my kids. I’ve never missed a day, you know.”

“I know, Anne,” Leon says, sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes with the back of his free hand. “No worries, really. You know how much I love kids,” he smiles.

“Thank you so much, Leon,” Anne praises. “You’re an absolute life saver.”

“Give your mum my love when you see her, alright?” Leon says.

“Of course, dear. Have fun with my babies, and make sure they know that I miss them all!” she says.

“Alright Anne, don’t worry about them today. They’re in good hands,” Leon reassures her, hanging up after they say their goodbyes.

 

///

 

Leon really didn’t think that taking care of a bunch of toddlers would be this exhausting. He knew it was hard work, but he had no idea just  _how_  hard the work actually was. 

There’s 13 two to five year-olds in his classroom, and if it weren’t for Anne’s teaching assistant, Frankie, Leon would have most likely already fallen over from exhaustion. 

Mickey is throwing a tantrum, Dana is crying because Mickey is throwing a tantrum, Henry and Kyla constantly crave Leon’s attention, and Lucas is running around nude while Frankie chases him with a clean diaper. Absolute chaos.

“Mickey, love, I need you to take a deep breath and tell me what’s the matter,” Leon says calmly.

“G-Georgie took m-my blocks,” Mickey blubbers, his breathing erratic. 

“Georgie,” Leon calls to the 4 year-old. She walks over and he puts his hand on her back. “Did you take Mickey’s blocks, Georgie?”

Georgie nods. “I only took a few of them. I thought we could share,” she says, holding up a red block.

“See, Mickey?” Leon says. “You can share your blocks with Georgie. Why don’t you two go play together at the block station, alright?” Leon suggests, and Mickey nods, wiping his eyes and trying to make his breaths go back to normal. 

“Jesus,” Leon mumbles to himself as he stands up off the ground. He immediately feels 2 small bodies tackle his legs from behind, almost dead-legging him in the process. “Oof!” he says, steadying himself so he doesn’t fall on the toddlers. It’s literally never-ending. He turns around, his legs still being held by the 3 year-olds. “Ernest! Doris! You almost knocked me down!” he says, playfully putting his hands on his hips and sticking his bottom lip further out in a pout. 

The twins giggle, releasing their grip of Leon’s knees when he kneels down so that he’s almost eye-level with them. 

“Now, how are my favourite pair of twins doing today?” he smiles, one hand on each of the toddlers’ arms.

Doris gasps, her red ringlets bouncing with every movement. “Achoo!”

Leon laughs. “Bless you,” he says, and the twins giggle at him.

“No, silly!” Ernest says. “Achoo!”

“Achoo!” Doris repeats excitedly. 

“Do you want to play doctor?” Leon says, trying to understand what they’re getting at. 

“Achoo!” Ernest says once more, pointing behind Leon.

Leon turns around to see the last person he thought he’d run into today. The person that’s been avoiding him for literally months, and the person who he managed to not even  _think_  about today until this moment. The person who looks  _just_  as shocked to see Leon as Leon is to see him.

“Max,” Leon says before losing his footing and falling straight onto his ass in front of Ernest and Doris.  _Wow, he’s beautiful_.

“Leon, um,” Max says, taken aback by his presence. “What are you doing here?” He picks Doris up, who had run up to him and tugged on his jeans until she got what she wanted. Ernest follows her, but wraps his arms around Max’s leg instead.

“I’m filling in for Anne today,” he says, standing up and dusting his jeans off. “What are you doing here?” Leon asks nervously.

Max smiles awkwardly and motions to the kids hanging off of him like monkeys. 

“Right, of course, stupid question,” Leon half-mumbles, uncomfortably rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but at Max. “Let me just check you out. Or-I mean-sign you out so that you can, you know, take them home and-“

“Leon, I got it,” Max smiles. Leon musters up a tense smile and motions Max and the twins over to the desk at the front of the room.

“So, they’re yours, then?” Leon asks quietly, looking through the papers to find the twin's names.

“Well, I mean… Yeah,” Max says, setting Doris down and grabbing her hand instead. 

“Oh,” Leon says simply.

“What, is that weird or something?” Max says in a playful tone.

“No, not at all. You just, um,” Leon clears his throat. “You never mentioned that you have kids, is all,” he shrugs.

Max’s eyes immediately scrunch up and a (really fucking adorable) laugh makes its way through Max’s lips as he shakes his head. “You’re an absolute idiot,” Max muses.

“What?” Leon can’t help but chuckle at the comment.

“You of all people should know that I’m gay, Leon. I can’t make children. These are my  _siblings_ ,” he says, his laughter still evident. 

Leon’s eyes widen. “Right. I, um, knew that,” he mumbles.

“Sure you did,” Max nods his head, smiling the same smile that makes Leon’s heart jump.

They study each other’s faces silently for slightly too long. Max’s the first one to break the silence.

“So, we should probably get going, then,” he says, squeezing the toddlers’ hands. “It was,” he starts, making eye contact with Leon. “It was really nice to see you,” Max smiles genuinely. Leon just nods in reply. 

Max begins to turn away, and all Leon can think is  _Don’t stop him. Don’t stop him. Don’t stop him. Don’t sto-_

“Hey, Leon?”

“Yes?” Leon immediately responds to Max. Literally immediately. There was no time in between. 

“Do you think you’d mind helping us to the car? They won’t want in their stroller, so I need an extra hand to get the stroller out there,” Max says sheepishly.

“Sure,” Leon smiles, probably too eagerly. He unhooks the tram from its place outside and begins to push it, following the love of his- _Max_  out to his car.

“Do you mind just putting it in the back there?” Max asks, and Leon shakes his head.

“Happy to,” Leon says, opening the back of the car and hoisting the twin tram into the open area while Max hooks the twins into their car seats.

_This is so weird._

Max gets Ernest and Doris strapped into their seats and closes the door, walking behind his car to where Leon is. “So, uh, thanks for that,” he motions to the now-closed trunk of his car.

“It was nothing,” Leon breathes with an awkward smile and his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. 

“Well, I better get those two home-“

“Max, why didn’t you just tell me you didn’t feel the same way?” Leon asks, unable to control his thoughts any longer.

“Leon,” Max sighs, running his hands through his fringe.

“You could have just told me that you didn’t want to be with me instead of fucking me and then leaving me a sticky note as some horrible excuse for a goodbye,” Leon blurts out. He can feel the tears pricking the back of his eyes and he can hear his voice choking up, but he’s accidentally opened a gate to his emotions and he can’t seem to stop himself. He’s just glad the twins can’t hear or see them from where they are. 

“That’s not what I was trying to-“

“Do you even know how that made me feel? I tell you I love you, and then you make me think that you might feel even remotely the same way, and then the next day you’re just gone with no warning, and you completely ignore me for-“

Max cuts Leon off by grabbing the back of his neck and swiftly connecting their lips together for the first time in 4 months. Leon gasps in shock, but quickly lets himself melt into the kiss, moving his lips against Max’s and grabbing onto his waist as he feels a tear run down his cheek. The kiss is desperate and hopeless, but Leon still wishes it’ll never end. 

He wants it to last forever, but regardless, he forces himself to slowly push Max away, tearing their lips apart. He keeps his eyes closed, but his grip on Max’s biceps tight as he tries to go over what just happened in his head.

“Leon,” Max says quietly, dropping his arms.

“Why did you do that?” Leon asks monotonously, opening his eyes to look down at the boy in front of him. 

“I’m sorry,” Max replies, and Leon can see the tears welling up in his eyes. 

“Why would you do that?” Leon asks again.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Max repeats, choking on a sob and pushing Leon’s hands off of his arms, turning around and walking to the front of his car.

Leon sighs, running his hand over his face. “Max, stop-“

“Bye, Leon,” Max mumbles, getting into the driver’s seat of his car and shutting the door.

“Max!” Leon yells as Max starts his car up and begins to back out of the parking space. Max drives away, and Leon watches his car leave the school parking lot. “ _Fuck_ ,” he grumbles to himself. He groans loudly and kicks the curb in front of him, before running his hands through his hair and slowly making his way back inside. He tries his best not to cry for the rest of the day. Or more accurately, he tries his best not to let the kids see him cry for the rest of the day.

 

///

 

“Why would he do that, Ralf? Seriously, why?” Leon continues his 17 minute rant. Ralf opens his mouth to speak for the sixth time in five minutes, but is cut off by Leon once again. “Like, how does someone just-“

“Sleep with someone who just told them they loved him, leave a sticky note on his pillow the next morning saying a shitty goodbye, ignore their calls for months, only to kiss them when they run into them 4 months later and leave crying 30 seconds later?” Ralf finishes Leon’s sentence with folded arms, shooting Leon an annoyed look as he does so.

“Okay, Ralf, you could at least try to spare my feelings,” Leon shoots back. “I’m the one going through shit right now.”

“Are you though?” Ralf questions. 

“Yes,” Leon says, annoyed at Ralf’s tendency to make it seem like Leon’s not experiencing as much as he is.

“Leon, I know your feelings are hurt, but if anyone is going through anything right now, it’s Max,” Ralf asserts, and Leon furrows his eyebrows.

“But-“

“Think about it, Leon,” he reasons. “Max was in a relationship with a guy who hurt him, mentally and physically for  _months_  before he was able to get up the courage to leave him. He had to go to the hospital because of the beating he got after he went home up with a love bite that you gave him. The bloke stalked and almost killed him before he was finally sent to jail-or wherever he ended up. Then, the only person he really trusted at that point told him that he was in love with him. And he  _obviously_  feels the same way, by the way. You’re being absolutely daft, mate. Of  _course_  he’s in love with you. He wouldn’t have slept with you if he weren’t. But you’ve got to remember, the last person he loved hurt him. A lot. It’s got to be hard on him, don’t you think? And now he’s sitting in his new flat, most likely just as upset as you are, if not more, crying because he doesn’t know if he can ever really love properly again. He’s  _way_  worse off than you are, mate,” Ralf finishes his long-awaited speech with an intake of air into his lungs. 

Leon stares at him with wide eyes and his mouth slightly ajar. “I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” he mumbles quietly, looking down at his fingers. 

Ralf bites his lip. “I’m sorry, Leon. I didn’t mean to unload all of that on you, but,” he sighs. “he can’t be having an easy time with this either.”

“No, you’re right, Ralf. Thank you,” Leon says genuinely, giving him a small smile. “So you really think he feels the same way I do?”

“I really do,” Ralf nods. 

Leon swallows. “I have to go see him then,” he says, standing up.

“Leon, don’t. Give him some space for now. It’s only been a few hours since you saw him, just let it rest for tonight,” Ralf urges, not wanting to put any more stress on the poor blue-eyed boy. 

“I’ll see you later, Ralf,” Leon says with a grin, grabbing his coat from the back of the chair and running out of Ralf’s flat.

“Leon!” Ralf calls after him, but Leon’s already slammed the door behind him. 

 

///

 

“Max!” Leon whisper-shouts as he throws a pebble at the glass door of the balcony on the corner of the building he saw him go into a month ago now. “Max!” He throws another pebble. “Max!”

The glass door opens, and Leon’s breath draws itself back into his lungs, but his stomach drops when he sees the American man that he’s seen Max with in the past. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Max’s friend says, obviously annoyed. “It’s fuckin’ 2 in the morning.”

“Um,” Leon says, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. “Is Max there?” he calls up to him. 

“Next balcony over, mate,” he calls back down. “I’m Weston, and if you ever wake me up in the middle of the night again, I’m throwing something at you,” he says before going back into his room. Leon chooses to ignore the fact that Weston kept him up many nights in the past before any of this started. 

Leon shrugs his shoulders and takes a deep breath before throwing a pebble at the right balcony this time. “Max!” he calls as he continues to hit the glass door with tiny rocks. “Max!”

“What the fuck-“ Leon hears Max curse as the door slides open, Leon’s breath catching in his throat. “Leon?” Max says, barely loud enough for Leon to hear. 

“Um,” Leon says. “Hi.”

“What are you doing-“ Max starts, and Leon can’t help but cut him off, just wanting to say what he needs to say before Max can shut him out again.

"I know it's hard for you to trust me,” he starts. "I know that. Especially because of how I feel about you and where similar feelings have taken you in the past. But I can tell you right now that I would  _never_  treat you the way he did. I would  _never_  hurt you. I'm not him. You know who I am. I know you do. You deserve the  _world_ , Max Meyer. The absolute world, and I want the opportunity to be able to try to give you the world. Because you might be too good to be true, and you're all I bloody want. Please just give me a chance to show you that I can make you  _happy_. That we can make each other happy. Please," Leon breathes out with pure desperation in his voice, and he thinks it might be the fastest he's ever talked. 

There’s a long silence between the two, and Leon watches as Max wipes his eyes, and he hears him sniffle from his balcony. “How did you know where I lived?” Max says as a reply.

“I took a detour on a run awhile back, and-and you were just getting back,” Leon explains.

Max breathes out a small laugh, and Leon can’t help but smile at the sight. “So I  _did_  see you hiding in the alleyway.”

“You caught me,” Leon says awkwardly. “So,” he breathes. “What do you say, Max? Can we give this a go?”

“Leon,” Max sighs, pushing his fringe off of his forehead. 

“Please,” Leon begs.

Max’s silent for what feels like an eternity. Leon waits for a reply, but is met instead with Max sighing and going straight back into his flat without a word. 

Leon feels his heart break in two at that. Tears prick the back of his eyes as he hears the door slide closed and the lock click. The tears fall when he blinks, and he doesn’t want to be that guy that stands outside forever after he’s rejected, so Leon turns around and begins to walk slowly away, the tears coming more quickly now. 

“So are balconies just our thing, then?” Max’s voice sounds from behind him, and Leon turns around so fast he becomes dizzy, but he doesn’t care because the love of his life came downstairs. For him.

“Max,” he breathes, his body frozen in shock.

“It was fun to be on the receiving side of this balcony nonsense, I have to say,” Max jokes, his eyes nervous and his hands fidgeting in front of him. Leon’s broken-hearted tears quickly transform into tears of joy as he makes his way to Max so fast he thinks he’s running. 

He can’t help but pick Max up in a hug when he reaches him, spinning him around like in one of those cheesy rom-coms that Leon’s obsessed with. The action makes Max laugh in surprise.

“Leon, you’re making me sick!” he jokes. Leon lets his feet touch the ground again, but doesn’t let him get another word out before he presses their lips together in a sloppy kiss that would honestly probably be kind of gross if he wasn’t so fucking happy. He disconnects their lips and instead opts for planting a kiss on every single square inch of Max’s face, making the smaller boy giggle. “That tickles!” he squeals. “Stop!” he laughs, and Leon does, running his hands through Max hair and looking into his eyes, blue like the Lake, as another tear falls down his cheek.

“I love you,” Leon blurts, not being able to stop himself. “And again, you don’t have to say it back, I just-“

“I love you too,” Max says, running his thumb over the apple of Leon’s cheek.

Leon sighs in relief. “Okay, good, because that would have been embarrassing,” he admits, and Max shakes his head before pressing their lips together once more.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to eafay70 for the title(:
> 
> Really interested what you think about my two lovely boys x


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